Six field populations of the parasitoid Diadegma insulare (Cresson) were collected from Mexico and the United States and tested for their susceptibility to permethrin by using a glass-vial residue bioassay. Significant differences existed in susceptibility, with one population significantly more susceptible than the other five. Susceptibility of D. insulare increased when they were reared for several generations in the greenhouse in the absence of selection. D. insulare was less suceptible to permethrin than the adult stage of its host, Plutella xylostella (L.), from a laboratory colony, but more susceptible than those hosts collected from a commercial field. Our data suggest that a field population of D. insulare appeared to increase its tolerance to permethrin much more slowly than P. xylostella.